Specifications

Iiyama’s latest creation is a no-frills 27in, Full HD monitor with a 120Hz refresh rate that should make it ideal for playing games.

The G2773HS is far from the best looking monitor we’ve seen – the chunky black plastic bezel is rather plain, as is the matching stand. The glossy plastic attracts fingerprints, and the entire screen wobbles when nudged. There’s a small amount of screen tilt, but no rotation or height adjustment. However, there is at least a VESA mounting point on the back, so you could wall-mount or attach the screen to a monitor stand if you need it at a particular height.

Connectivity is reasonable, with HDMI, VGA and DVI video inputs, as well as 3.5mm audio in and outputs. You’ll need to use a dual-link DVI cable to display the full 120Hz refresh rate, as single-link cables can’t transmit the necessary bandwidth. Thankfully, there's one in the box.

The panel uses TN technology, which comes with the usual caveat of narrower viewing angles than technologies such as IPS. There’s noticeable contrast shift as soon as you move away from a direct facing angle, either to the sides or vertically. The LED backlight is at least very evenly distributed across the panel, with very few signs of light bleed or colour distortion. Images also looked very sharp at the native 1,920x1,080 resolution, preserving plenty of detail even when stretched over a 27in panel.

The G2773HS's 120Hz refresh rate impressed us in our gaming tests. We were able to disable vsync without suffering from the screen tearing that usually results. Iiyama claims near-instant 1ms response times, and we certainly struggled to spot any signs of ghosting, even during fast motion. If you don’t play games, the extra frames still make a subtle yet noticeable difference to how smooth Windows feels. Simple tasks such as minimising or maximising windows or using Aero Peek to switch between applications seem clearer and more fluid than on a 60Hz display.

Colours were slightly muted at the default settings, so we tried out the on-screen display to try to correct them. The touch-sensitive panel built into the screen bezel made it easy to navigate, although we would have liked a preview of each colour preset – you have to apply each one in turn if you want to see what impact it will have on image quality. After some calibration, images looked much more natural, although still lacked a little visual punch. Iiyama’s claimed 5,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio is ambitious, as we thought there was a lack of detail in very light images, although darker images were very clear and detailed.

The monitor's built-in 2.5W stereo speakers are basic at best, producing audio loud enough to hear when sat in front of the screen, but not from across a room. The lack of bass and sharp high-end should make you reach for a pair of headphones, or a set of powered speakers.

At £330, the G2773HS is very keenly priced. There are few other 120Hz displays of this size for less, as most include 3D features which increase the price significantly. The design leaves a lot to be desired, and you’ll definitely want to tweak the picture quality settings out of the box, but there’s still plenty of value here. If you’re looking to improve your gaming experience and don't feel the need for 3D, this could be an excellent upgrade.